


Semantics

by SilverMyfanwy



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cats, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27777547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMyfanwy/pseuds/SilverMyfanwy
Summary: James Buchanan Barnes had never really expected to become a pirate.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 12
Kudos: 38





	Semantics

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roe87](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roe87/gifts).



> For roe87- at long last! I am sorry you have had to wait so long. This can in no way hold a candle to the wonderful fic you sent me but I hope you like it nonetheless.
> 
> No warnings that I'm aware of.

James Buchanan Barnes had never really expected to become a pirate.

Then again, he had never really expected to loose his arm or get a husband or get drunk one fateful night and wake up the next morning in a hammock with a contract balancing on his chest that said he’d signed up for three years’ work on a ship.

Yet, somehow, here he was- a one-armed pirate with a number of wanted posters attached to his name, married as best as pirates could be married- to a man as strong as an ox and just as stubborn- and sitting in yet another hammock about to watch his crew put on a play.

“Can I plait your hair?” Steve murmured, shifting slightly in his position lying beneath Bucky so that Bucky’s head moved further down his chest and Steve could run his fingers through Bucky’s hair.

“How are you going to plait it?” Bucky muttered, not paying a particularly high amount of attention to Steve. He was rather distracted watching Clint dangling upside down from the rigging holding a bucket of flour and yelling something at Carol in a language neither Bucky or Carol appeared to be able to understand.

“I don’t know. I just want to plait it.”

“Fine, but if it’s a mess you have to undo it.”

There was a loud bang somewhere below deck and they both gave a start.

Carol and Clint stared at Steve and Bucky with wide eyes and alarmed faces.

“Were you expecting that to happen?” Bucky asked them, sitting up and preparing to swing himself out of the hammock.

Carol and Clint exchanged a look that left them both wincing sheepishly, which was not a sight Bucky liked to see. Clint winced sheepishly a lot, but for Carol Danvers- who towered over nearly every other pirate or sailor Bucky had ever met, could bend metal with her bare hands, was covered in tattoos and had a scar across her eyebrow from where she had wrestled a kraken and won- to be wincing sheepishly over something was a very bad sign indeed.

“Do you think they’ve knocked it over?” Clint asked Carol.

“Yes.”

“Knocked what over?” Bucky asked. “That sounded like a bloody cannon getting smashed into another bloody cannon.”

“Not cannons. Cauldrons.” Carol said.

“CAROL!” Maria yelled up at them from below deck. “This is a bit heavier than we thought it was going to be!”

Bucky lay back down again, rolling his eyes fondly and resting his head on Steve’s chest. “I think we should leave them to it with this one.”

“But what if they’ve broken it?"

“Then a new one will be bought out of their wage packets.”

Carol and Clint went swearing and stomping below decks and Steve and Bucky were left in silence, the hammock rocking back and forth slightly as the ship bobbed on the waves.

“Where shall we go next?” Steve asked Bucky.

“I don’t really feel like going anywhere. Just want to stay here with you.”

“I’m not talking us going anywhere like below deck or something, I’m talking about where you want to go next with the ship.”

“Oh.”

"So where do you want to go next with the ship?”

“I don’t know; where do you want to go ?”

“I think I want to go somewhere that isn’t sunny. And I want to raid a ship for something other than…” Steve trailed off. “What was the last thing we raided a ship for?”

“We haven’t raided a ship in ages.” Bucky said, grumbling. “All we’ve done is go on ridiculous treasure quests and dig up jars of pearls.”

“The quests aren’t ridiculous and it’s not always jars of pearls.” Steve responded.

“Just the fact alone that we call them quests is ridiculous.” Bucky said stoutly.

“Are you bickering?” Natasha climbed down silently from the crow’s nest and stood on the deck next to the hammock.

“Why are you asking if we’re bickering or not?”

“Just curious."

"What's happening in the play?"

“You’ll see.” Natasha smiled and began to un-plait her hair, shaking it over her shoulders. “And don’t plait Bucky’s hair, Steve. Not tonight, at least.”

“I don’t like where this is going.” Steve said.

“I think I do. Did you write this play, Nat?”

She didn’t answer; she’d already jumped down below deck, her hair flying behind her.

“I think they’re going to do an impersonation of us.”

“They’re definitely going to do an impersonation of us.”

-

“Who is this tall, handsome stranger with long hair?” Carol was kneeling on the deck, looking up at Natasha who was balancing on the boom with a bandanna pulled up over her face in the same way that Bucky did when he was in areas that had one too many copies of his wanted posters pinned up around the port.

“You will never know my name for you are a lesser pirate than I and now I shall take your ship and make you walk the plank!” Natasha called out.

“I really don’t think this is how our first meeting went.” Bucky muttered to Steve. “I don’t think I threatened to make you walk the plank.”

“You did say that you were going to take my ship. And you also said that you were going to hand me over to the Navy in return for getting Clint back.”

“Semantics.”

“I will never surrender to you!” Carol told Natasha. She was wearing a blue waistcoat that had very clearly been stolen out of Steve’s chest. “I will take back my ship!”

Monica suddenly jumped out of a cauldron and waved her arms at Carol and Natasha. “Stop fighting!”

“Who are you?” Natasha demanded.

“I am the magic moon child and I am here to tell you to stop fighting, merge your crews and sail away into the sunset to live happily ever after and also get a cat!”

“That is definitely not how our first meeting happened.” Steve said.

“Pause the play- why did you mention a cat?” Bucky called to Monica.

Monica grinned, reached into the cauldron and pulled out a white cat. “This is Alpine. He’s the new ship’s cat.”

“We put on the play because we thought it would be the best way of breaking the news to you.” Clint said.

“None of this was my idea.” Maria said.

Steve and Bucky exchanged a look and had a brief whispered meeting.

“What is it?” Natasha asked cautiously.

“If we’re making announcements, perhaps we should tell you about the dragon egg we’ve got onboard.” Bucky said apprehensively.

Monica’s joyful scream could be heard for a mile.


End file.
